Tour to see ‘amazing’ new GPs flags need for rural boost

RACGP President Dr Michael Wright was offered a taste of life as a regional Victorian doctor when he visited Wangaratta on Wednesday to meet with 30 of Australia’s future GPs as they embarked on their training.
 
Dr Wright was part of a delegation of GP leaders to descend on the north-east Victorian town, as the new GPs in training begin their two-day orientation course ahead of beginning work placements in the region.
 
They are among 1500 registrars to begin their specialty training over the past couple of weeks, with more than 400 of those in Victoria.
 
Dr Wright said he is excited to see the ‘great enthusiasm’ within the group of GPs in training as they start on their new careers.
 
But the Wangaratta visit comes at a time when Australia is suffering a critical shortage of rural doctors.
 
The delegation also used the trip to meet local practice owners, GPs and RACGP members, to hear first-hand of the issues they face amid the shortage.
 
‘We need more specialist GPs, and we need them in rural communities like Wangaratta,’ Dr Wright said.   
 
But with a Federal Election imminent, Dr Wright said he hopes politicians from all sides would also visit rural and remote communities, to see and hear for themselves of the challenges local GPs and communities are enduring.
 
‘I urge all politicians to listen to their GPs in rural communities, to understand the struggles they’re having, understand how their patients are faring, and understand what’s happening in every rural community,’ he said.
 
‘Hospitals are often a long drive away and it’s harder to get medicines, nurses, doctors, and specialists. 
 
‘All Australians should have affordable access to a GP who knows them, and that’s what the college of GPs is fighting for.’
 

RACGP President Dr Michael Wright and Deputy Regional Director of Training Dr Evan Schuch. (Image: Jake Pinskier)

Deputy Regional Director of Training, Dr Evan Schuch, said the two-day workshop was a great opportunity to ‘showcase’ the northeast, with many trainees having travelled a long way to attend.
 
‘There’s an opportunity to show them not only what general practice training can offer, but what the college can do to support them,’ he said.
 
‘Getting trainees up in the region has always been a challenge for all different reasons. Sometimes we support the GPs in training, as we do for the college, but I guess the difference in funding and their pay, and what they get as a trainee compared to [what they earn at] a hospital is very different.’
 
Dr Wright said incentive funding was needed to ‘remove the barriers’ to GPs working in rural and remote communities, with some communities going years without having a GP in training.
 
‘We know many GPs want to train and work in rural communities, but they often need support to relocate,’ he said.
 
‘In Yarrawonga, just up the road from here, we placed six new registrars this year through incentive support – double what we’d normally get.’ 
 
‘The message is clear from coming here to Wangaratta – that this community, all Australians, deserve affordable access to general practice. That’s a message that’s really true around the country.’
 
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